MH370 mystery as plane debris washes up on South African beach seven years after doomed jet vanished
DEBRIS thought to be from the doomed MH370 jet has washed up on a South African beach seven years after the plane went missing.
The Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, crashed at an unknown location in March, 2014, killing all 239 people on board.
A three-ft piece of wreckage came ashore at the start of February near Port Elizabeth, South Africa, it's claimed.
The self-styled investigator who found it believe's it's from an aircraft, most likely a Malaysian 777.
Wreck hunter Blaine Gibson believes it may be part of a spoiler wing panel used to reduce lift.
It's reportedly being held by the South African Civil Aviation Authority with Malaysian authorities notified 10 days ago.
JET MYSTERY
Mr Gibson, who has been described as an “Indiana Jones crusader”, has spent the last six years researching the mystery crash.
He first hit the headlines in February 2016 when he claimed he had found debris from the Malaysian Airlines jet washed up on a sandbank in Mozambique.
More than 30 pieces of debris, some confirmed as coming from the flight, have been recovered over the years.
Mr. Gibson, who has found some of the pieces, believes at least half are from MH370 or a 777.
The two biggest pieces – the flaperon and flap – were positively identified as from MH370.
Mr. Gibson said when MH370 first vanished he went to Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar searching for debris .
After the flaperon was found on Reunion Island in July, 2015 he started searching the southern Indian ocean.
He said: “I started objectively and ignored all the satellite data as I didn’t really understand it at the time but once the flaperon was found I focused on the southern Indian Ocean.
“Initially on Mauritius, I found nothing as I was about six months too early but then the debris started washing up."
MH370 - WHAT HAPPENED?
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur and was heading to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Passengers included Chinese calligraphers, a couple on their way home to their young sons after a long-delayed honeymoon and a construction worker who hadn't been home in a year.
But at 12.14am on March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines lost contact with MH370 close to Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca.
Before that, Malaysian authorities believe the last words heard from the plane, from either the pilot or co-pilot, was "Good night Malaysian three seven zero".
Satellite "pings" from the aircraft suggest it continued flying for around seven hours when the fuel would have run out.
Experts have calculated the most likely crash site around 1,000 miles west of Perth, Australia.
But a huge search of the seabed failed to find any wreckage - and there are a number of alternative theories as to its fate.
It comes after a shocking new book claimed the jet may may have been shot from the sky.
In an exclusive interview to mark her explosive new book, investigative journalist Florence de Changy reveaed her shock findings about the flight.
She suspects it was shot down — by accident or on purpose — by a “fighter jet, missile or a new laser-guided weapon system being tested in the region at the time”.
And she believes the official version of events is a “diversion operation” and “the biggest cover-up in recent times” to hide that the plane was carrying illicit cargo not checked before being put on board.
In her book The Disappearing Act: The Impossible Case Of MH370, Florence tells how crew made contact with air traffic control in Vietnam to say the plane was landing — then sent a mayday call saying it was disintegrating.
Florence said: “It has been like a jigsaw, putting thousands of little clues together.
“If what I suspect and expose in the book is correct, it would be the biggest cover-up in recent times.”
MH370 became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries when it vanished without a trace back in March 2014.
The flight took off from Kuala Lumpur and was heading to Beijing with 239 people on board - it never reached its destination.
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Passengers included Chinese calligraphers, a couple on their way home to their young sons after a long-delayed honeymoon and a construction worker who hadn't been home in a year.
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But at 12.14am on March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines lost contact with MH370 close to Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca.
Before that, Malaysian authorities believe the last words heard from the plane, from either the pilot or co-pilot, was "Good night Malaysian three seven zero".
